I realized recently that a lot of the people I used to engage with on Twitter (because I refuse to call that shit X. Like what a dumb name. “X.” He’s so full of himself, he ruined the brand and changed the name) no longer participate there, and I’m wondering where y’all at.
Hi. My name is Monique, and I’m multilingual. I speak English, Spanish, and AAVE.
I’ve been dipping my toe in both Threads and Bluesky lately, and I find both of them useful for different reasons.
Threads, which is the Twitter version of Instagram by Instagram, seems to be a bit more of a social hub where people tend to hang out, make cute posts, boost each other up, and generally have a nice, calm time.
I haven’t encountered any trolls over there, but I’m sure they are around.
Bluesky seems to be more of where the “serious business” internet people are, and by that I mean they talk about super serious topics, and there aren’t a lot of selfies there and not a lot of joking around.
It’s about balance, I guess, so I’ve been checking in on each platform to see what people are doing and also to share my work because there has been a lot of it as of late.
Like, no, for real, I have been writing my ass off lately.
I’m thejournalista everywhere, and I have the same profile picture everywhere except here on Substack. So if you see me in these social media streets, please say hi. I want to engage with you.
I am a 25-year veteran of the social web, and it feels weird to say that, but it’s true. I had my first blog in 1999 on Diaryland. What a time! If you want to go back even further than that, I used to post angsty journal entries on Geocities back in the day. I still marvel at how much the web has changed since then.
I love the social web though, and I see value in it, and I want to keep participating and engaging even on the days when it seems like the world is too much.
It’s part escapism, part being a part of the crowd, and part standing on my soap box running my mouth.
I’ve had an influx of new subscribers as of late, so I want to say welcome to you all, and thank you for wanting to read the things I think about.
Please find me on the socials and add me. Bonus points if you tag me and tell me you found me via this blog/newsletter/whatever the fuck.
I cuss a lot. I don’t apologize for it.